Buckle



May 19, 1964 E. L. PARR 3,133,330

BUCKLE Filed July 17, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet l a2 Bs 84 INVENTOIL Mfr May 19, 1964 E. L. PARR BUCKLE Filed July 17, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 v i (II/IFIIAQWWIII Fl G 5 INVENTOR.

E. L. PARR I 3,133,330

May 19, 1964 BUCKLE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 17, 1962 BY 5 i l :5. g M

1 47 mm m m A 2 L 3 M a I, o 7

United States Patent 3,133,330 BUGKLE Edward L. Parr, 301 N. Cuyamaca, El Cajon, Calif. Filed Jul 17, 1962, Ser. No. 210,325

8 Claims. (Cl. 24-230) The present invention relates to a quick-release buckle.

This improved buckle includes a main body or frame having a loop for receiving a belt, strap or the like. A retainer is pivotally carried by spaced arms of the frame. This retainer is provided with a shoulder forming a retainer stop for a ring of a belt or strap. This retainer is held in ring retaining position by a detent. The detent is rnanipulatable by alever to move the retainer from its ring retaining position to its ring releasing position.

In one embodiment, the lever is held in position by a second lever which cannot be actuated except through a latch which must be manipulated before the levers can be actuated to move the detent from its retainer locking position.

Shoulders are provided on the retainer and detent, which, when in abutting relationship prevent movement of the retainer, i.e., the shoulder on the retainer prevents movement of the retainer until its shoulder is moved away from the shoulder on the retainer. The angular relationship between these shoulders is such that the abutting relationship is retained although the latch has been actuated to release the lever for movement. The lever, however, can be actuated then to move the detent to retainer releasing position.

Other features and advantages will be apparent from the following description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

In the drawings: 7

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the improved buckle;

FIG. 2 is a View, which for convenience sake, is referred to herein as a front view of the buckle;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the buckle;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5, but showing the latch released but with the retainer still held in position by the detent;

3,133,330 Patented May 19, 1964 When the belt or strap is buckled, the rear end of the ring is pulled into engagement with the rear side of the front ledge, as shown in FIG. 5.

The retainer 46 is held in ring retaining position by a detent 56. This detent is pivotally mounted upon a pin 68, the pin being supported in aligned drill holes 62 in the arms 34 and 36. This pin 68 is arranged parallelly of the pin 44 and rearwardly and below said pin 44. The forward portion 64 of the bottom of the detent 56 rests upon the top of the base 32 when the detent is in retainer locking position, as shown in FIG. '5. The forward portion 66 of the top of the detent is in the form of a shoulder which forms a stop for a shoulder 68 on the rear bottom side of the retainer 46. These shoulders 66 and 68 are arranged parallelly of the pins 44 and 60. The top side of the base 32 is recessed as at 70 for receiving a laminated leaf spring 72. This leaf spring is connected to the base 32 by a rivet 74. The leaf spring 72 extends rearwardly and underneath the detent 56; it is L-shaped and the rear thereof engages the upper part of the detent 56 and normally urges said detent in a counterclockwise direction whereby the bottom 64 of the detent is normally urged against the top of the base 32.

It will be observed from FIG. 5 that the dispositions of the shoulders 66 and 68 with respect to one another and their location with respect to the axis of pin 60 are such that when these shoulders are in contact with one another, pressure is exerted on the retainer 46 to move the same in a clockwise directionand the retainer urges the detent in a counterclockwise direction.

The upper rear portion 70 of the detent 56 is in the 7 form of a shoulder through which the detent is moved FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but showing the position of the retainer after it has been released by the operating lever;

FIGS. 8 and 9 are fragmentary sectional views taken along lines 88 and 99, respectively, of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary view, in section, of one of the fulcrum pins before it is formed with a head.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the buckle is shown at 20. One end of a strap or belt is shown at 22 and a ring forming the end of a strap 24 is shown at 26. This ring is adapted to be removably attached to the buckle 20.

The buckle 20 includes a main body or frame 30 including a base 32 and allochirally shaped and integrally formed arms 34and 36. The base includes an upright web 38 for reinforcing the frame and this web 38 together with the arms 34 and .36 and a yoke 40 provides a loop 42. The strap22 is connected to the yoke 40.

The upper forward ends of the arms 34 and 36 are drilled to form aligned holes 43 for receiving a fulcrum pin 44. A ring retainer 46 is pivotally mounted on the pin 44. This retainer 46 is provided with two downwardly extending ledges, the forwardly disposed ledge being indicated at 48 and the rearwardly disposed ledge being indicated at 50. These ledges extend parallelly of the pin 44 and provide a groove 52 for receiving the ring 26.

in a clockwise direction so as to move the forward shoul-. der 66 thereof rearwardly beyond the shoulder 68 of the retainer 46. This detent 56 is moved clockwise through the shoulder 70 by a lever 74. This lever is pivotally mounted on the pin 68, it being provided with legs 76 which are drilled to receive the pin 60 and which straddle the detent. The lower rear end 78 of lever 74 is inthe form of a shoulder which engages the shoulder 7 8. Movement of the lever 74 in a clockwise direction causes the shoulder 78 thereof to engage the shoulder 70 on the detent for moving the same in a clockwise direction. Lever 74 is urged in a counterclockwise direction by springs 79. These springs 79 are of coil type and are disposed about the shaft 60 on opposite sides of the detent 56 (see FIG. 9). An end of each of the coil springs bears against the floor 70 of the frame 30 and the other ends extend into the lever 74.

The front 80 of the lever 74 is bifurcated to provide downwardly extending legs 82 and 84 which lie forwardly of the upper part of the retainer 46. A second lever 86 is interposed between the legs 82 and 84 and the lower end thereof is pivotally mounted to the lower end of the legs 82 and 84 by pins 87. a One of these pins extends into the leg 82 and the other extends into the leg 84. The lower end of lever 86 extends rearwardly to form an upwardly extending shoulder 88 which, when the retainer is in ring retaining position, lies underneath a forwardly extending shoulder 90 on the retainer 46. The spring 7? normally tends to hold the lever 74 in the position shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Should an attempt be made to rotate the detent actuating lever 74 about the pivot pin 60, the shoulder 88 will engage the shoulder 90 to prevent clockwise movement of the lever 74. The upper part of lever 86 is provided with an opening 92 for receiving a pivotally mounting latch 94. The lower end of this latch 94 is pivotally mounted on a pin 96, which latter is carried by lever 86. The forward side 98 of the lever 86 is centrally depressed rearwardly and the upper forward portion 100 of the latch 94 extends forwardly of this depressed portion 98.

A spring 102 engages the rear side of the latch 94 and normally tends to rotate the same in a counterclockwise direction. Such movement, however, is limited by the lower rear edge 104 of the wall forming the upper part of the opening 92 in the lever 86. The spring is in the form of a wire having the opposite ends thereof anchored in the legs 82 and 84-. From these anchored portions, the spring comprehends two coils 103. These coils merge with upwardly extending portions 108 and the upper ends of the portions 168 are joined by yoke portion 110, the latter bearing against the rear of the latch and normally tends to rotate both the latch 94 and the lever 86 in a counterclockwise direction. Thus, it is apparent that the shoulder 88 of lever 86 is retained in latching position with shoulder 90 of retainer 46 by said spring 102, and that the lever 86 must be moved clockwise against the yielding action of the spring to release shoulder 88 from shoulder 90.

The latch 94 includes a rearwardly extending portion 112 which is arranged to engage a forwardly extending shoulder 114 on the forwardly facing portion of the lever 74.

The latch 94 prevents accidental movement of the lever 86 in a clockwise direction since movement of the lever 86, in a clockwise direction causes the rear end of the latch 94 to engage the shoulder or stop 114, as is depicted in FIG. 5. This is accomplished by the dispositions of the pin 96 and the stop 114 with respect to the rear end 112 of the latch 94. However, when the upper part 100 of the latch 94 is moved rearwardly, about the pivot pin, the rear end 112 is rotated so as to not be stopped by the stop surface 114. In this manner the lever 74 can be moved in a clockwise direction when clockwise movement is imparted to lever 86; such clockwise movement of lever 86 causes the stop 88 thereof to be moved forwardly of the stop 90 on retainer 46. As previously set forth clockwise movement of the lever 74 moves the detent 56 in a clockwise direction whereby the shoulder 66 is moved from underneath the shoulder 68 on the retainer 46. A coil spring 118 has one end connected to the retainer 46 and the other end is connected to the frame arm 34. This coil spring is biased to move the retainer 46 in a clockwise direction. Therefore, as soon as the detent releases the shoulder 68, the spring will rotate the detent from the position shown in FIG. 5 to the position shown in FIG. 7. Of course, the spring merely augments the movement of the belt if there is tension on the belt tending to move the retainer in a clockwise direction.

It will be observed that merely unlatching the stop 88, on the lever from the stop 90 on the retainer 46 will not release the detent from its retainer stopping position since the force applied by the shoulders 68 of the retainer on the shoulders 66 of the detent, is not a camming action which would tend to rotate the detent in a clockwise direction, but, to the contrary, such compression of the shoulder-s 68 of the retainer 46 on the shoulder 66 on the detent 56, tends to move the detent in a counterclockwise direction. Thus it will be seen that the lever 74 must be moved manually in a clockwise direction to release the retainer 46 although the latch 94 has been moved to a position in which the shoulder 88 on the lever 86 can clear the shoulder 90 on the retainer 46. The angular relationship between the shoulders 66 and 68 is such that very little force is necessary to move the retainer counterclockwise sufiiciently to permit the surface 66 of the detent to clear the surface 68 of the retainer. In fact, this manipulation can be effected by a child.

In order to latch the ring 26 into position, after the detent is moved to the position as shown in FIG. 7, it is necessary only to place the ring in the groove 52 and then force the same rearwardly, that is, force the rear end of the ring against the front end of the ledge 50 of the retainer. The rear end of the retainer 46 is provided with a camming surface 119 for moving the detent 56 in a clockwise direction. After the ring has moved rearwardly, sufficiently, the leaf spring 72 will move the detent shoulder 66 underneath the shoulder 68 of the retainer 46.

From the foregoing it is readily apparent that the ring 26 can be readily released but such releasing requires two actions, namely that of first pushing rearwardly upon upper forwardly extending portion 160, the latch 94 and then pushing rearwardly or in a counterclockwise direction of the lever 74. Since these two actions are neces sary, the likelihood of unintentional releasing of the retainer is reduced to a minimum, yet, the simple two manipulations insures quick-release of the retainer.

It will be appreciated that under certain conditions, that the double action may not be desirable or necessary. In that event, the latch 94 can be omitted. When it is omitted, the buckle can be released by a single action, namely that of pushing rearwardly on lever 74.

As will be more clearly shown from FIG. 9, the pin 60 is retained in position in a novel manner. One end of the pin 6%? is provided with a head and the other end is riveted in place. As will be seen from FIG. 10, to accomplish this the end opposite the head 120 is first provided with a circumferential groove 122 near the end thereof and the end is provided with a recess 124. After the pin is in place a suitable spreading tool is applied to the recessed end to cause that portion of the pin 60 lying outwardly of the groove 122, to be spread radially to a diameter somewhat larger than the diameter of the pin so as to provide a retaining shoulder 126 to prevent longitudinal movement of the pin. This practice is also carried out with respect to pin 40.

While the form of embodiment herein shown and described constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms may be adopted falling within the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A quick-release buckle comprising, in combination:

(A) A main frame forming:

(a) A loop for receiving a strap or the like;

(12) an arm forming a pivot support;

(B) a retainer having (0) a shoulder forming a stop for a ring;

(d) means for pivotally connecting the retainer on said arms of the frame;

(e) said retainer having a second shoulder;

(C) a detent having a plurality of shoulders;

(f) means for pivotally connecting the detent on the arm of the frame;

(g) one of said shoulders of the detent being in abuttable relationship with the second mentioned shoulder of the retainer for retaining said retainer in ring retaining relationship with said ring;

(D) a movable element having (12) means for swinging the detent about the pivot means therefor for moving the said one shoulder of the detent away from abutting relationship with the second mentioned shoulder of the retainer;

(i) said retainer having a third shoulder;

(E) a lever;

(j) means for pivotally carrying the lever on the movable element,

(k) said lever having a shoulder latchable with the third mentioned shoulder on the retainer for retaining the second mentioned shoulder of the retainer in abutting relationship with the first mentioned shoulder of the detent;

(F) and a spring normally yieldingly urging the shoulder of said lever toward latching position with the third mentioned shoulder of the retainer.

2. A quick-release buckle as defined in claim 1, characterized to include:

7 (1) means normally yieldingly urging said detent toward the position in which the first mentioned shoulder, thereof is in abutting relationship with the second mentioned shoulder of the retainer.

3. A quick-release buckle as defined in claim 2, characterized in that said retainer is provided with,

(m) a portion, so disposed that, when said retainer is in ring releasing position, said portion moves said detent to detenting position with said second mentioned shoulder of the retainer when the retainer is normally moved to ring retaining position.

4. A quick-release buckle as defined in claim 1, characterized in that the angular relationship between first mentioned shoulder of the detent and the second mentioned shoulder of the retainer is such that the abutting relationship is retained although the said latch portion is moved away from that position at which it prevents movement of the lever.

5. A quick-release buckle as defined in claim 1, characterized to include:

(G) a latch for latching said lever in latchable position;

(n) means for pivotally carrying the latch on the lever;

(0) said latch having a portion, when in one position, engageable with the lever for preventing movement of the lever,

(p) said spring normally urging said latch to said one position thereof,

(q) said latch having an exposed portion manipulative for moving the latch portion away from said movement preventing position whereby the lever is movable to unlatch the shoulder thereof from the third shoulder on the retainer.

6. A quick-release buckle as defined in claim 5, characterized to include:

(r) means normally yieldingly urging said detent toward the position in which the first mentioned shoulder, thereof is in abutting relationship with the second mentioned shoulder of the retainer.

7. A quick-release buckle as defined in claim 6, characterized in that said retainer is provided with,

(s) a portion, so disposed that, when said retainer is in ring releasing position, said portion moves said detent to detenting position with said second mentioned shoulder of the retainer when the retainer is normally moved to ring retaining position.

8. A quick-release buckle as defined in claim 5, characterized in that the angular relationship between first mentioned shoulder of the detent and the second mentioned shoulder of the retainer is such that the abutting relationship is retained although the said latch portion is moved away from that position at which it prevents movement of the lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 208,280 Ashford Sept. 24, 1878 1,253,455 Adams Jan. 15, 1918 2,340,906 Suarez Feb. 8, 1944 2,987,341 Peck June 6, 1961 

1. A QUICK-RELEASE BUCKLE COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION: (A) A MAIN FRAME FORMING: (A) A LOOP FOR RECEIVING A STRAP OR THE LIKE; (B) AN ARM FORMING A PIVOT SUPPORT; (B) A RETAINER HAVING (C) A SHOULDER FORMING A STOP FOR A RING; (D) MEANS FOR PIVOTALLY CONNECTING THE RETAINER ON SAID ARMS OF THE FRAME; (E) SAID RETAINER HAVING A SECOND SHOULDER; (C) A DETENT HAVING A PLURALITY OF SHOULDER; (F) MEANS FOR PIVOTALLY CONNECTING THE DETENT ON THE ARM OF THE FRAME; (G) ONE OF SAID SHOULDERS OF THE DETENT BEING IN ABUTTABLE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SECOND MENTIONED SHOULDER OF THE RETAINER FOR RETAINING SAID RETAINER IN RING RETAINING RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID RING; (D) A MOVABLE ELEMENT HAVING (H) MEANS FOR SWINGING THE DETENT ABOUT THE PIVOT MEANS THEREFOR FOR MOVING THE SAID ONE SHOULDER OF THE DETENT AWAY FROM ABUTTING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SECOND MENTIONED SHOULDER OF THE RETAINER; (I) SAID RETAINER HAVING A THIRD SHOULDER; (E) A LEVER; (J) MEANS FOR PIVOTALLY CARRYING THE LEVER ON THE MOVABLE ELEMENT, (K) SAID LEVER HAVING A SHOULDER LATCHABLE WITH THE THIRD MENTIONED SHOULDER ON THE RETAINER FOR RETAINING THE SECOND MENTIONED SHOULDER OF THE RETAINER ABUTING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FIRST MENTIONED SHOULDER OF THE DETENT; (F) AND A SPRING NORMALLY YIELDINGLY URGING THE SHOULDER OF SAID LEVER TOWARD LATCHING POSITION WITH THE THIRD MENTIONED SHOULDER OF THE RETAINER. 